(CNS Local Life): Are you tired of taking your life in your hands just getting to work? Does the standard of driving on the roads of the Cayman Islands drive you nuts? Well here’s your chance to vent some of your frustrations. With the increase of dash cams, a lot of those ‘yikes!’ moments are recorded, and if you send the video footage to CNS, we’ll post it here on CNS Local Life. First up: bus drivers.

Following the release of documents containing hundreds of complaints about taxi and bus drivers and reported on CNS Headline News, a reader sent us examples that he had captured of public bus drivers at their worst — see video below.

If you have any dash cam evidence for “On Cayman’s roads (Part 2)”, you can send it to info@caymannewsservice.com. You can remain anonymous or put your name to it, but either way, feel free to vent.

In the meantime, be especially careful driving in the rain. It’s rough out there!

I had a Bus stopped and dropping someone off right on the corner of the roundabout to South Sound. I start to pass the Bus, to make the left turn into South Sound and he puts his turn signal on and immediately pulls out without even looking – just missing me. I have seen it so many times, the Bus drops a passenger off and thinks that as soon as he puts the turn signal on, that gives him the RIGHT to immediately pull out without bothering to see what is already approaching (or how near to him it is) in the Lane.
The other trick is to abruptly pull into the left side of the dual carriageway – halfway into the lane so that the driver behind has to make an emergency stop or make a rapid turn into the next lane – imagine that in rush hour traffic – a rapid maneuver into the right-hand lane is not an easy feat.
When will they learn that they’re not only endangering other drivers, they are also endangering their Bus full of Passengers !

A good idea but this first video although a couple are horrendous actually breaks the law twice from what I see. When they come on to the roundabout they should have gone into the left hand lane not the middle and the bus must have been on the roundabout therefore has right of way. When traveling along the 3 lane road and the car “undertakes” they should have been in the left hand lane. So if you are going to post these make sure you are following the rules!

Section 3(i) of the new Data Protection Law says that ‘sensitive personal data’ includes video recordings of persons committing criminal acts so unfortunately come January 2019, it will become illegal for persons to share videos of criminal acts online and it will also become illegal to even share such videos with the police. I wonder who had that put into the law??

CNS: Section 22 (1) deals with exemptions for the purposes of journalism. But it’s a very good point. I have sent a question to the police so we can get an official response – a good idea to get this sorted before January.

People sending videos of criminal acts to CNS may not be journalists and people sending videos of criminal acts to the police probably are not doing so as journalists. What you are offering in terms of showing videos of bad driving and worse is a true public service but the Data Protection Law does not care about public service or public good. Glad that you are checking this out.

Let’s get something straight. Most traffic related matters are “not criminal offences” in the Cayman Islands. Eg. Drunk Driving, Speeding, Careless Driving, Dangerous Driving, Illegal Parking etc… If someone is killed due to
Drunk Driving, Dangerous Driving or Careless Driving then it will become a criminal offence. The only other way it can make the matter become criminal would be to charge under the Penal Code for a Reckless & Negligent Act. This offence would also apply to someone operating a vessel or some type of machinery or equipment in such a way as to endanger public safety.

This is an excellent idea. Yes, let’s all submit our footage and photos of illegally parked cars, covered number plates, and vehicles with completely black windows(number plate as proof). Then we can make the job of the police easier. I’ll gladly work in an office for them somewhere, sending out fines or officers to all of the offenders.
Cayman really needs an on-foot traffic warden patrol to take care of a lot of these matters. Could cut down on crime and bring in much welcomed revenue to the police service.

During 2 recent trips to the hardware store & supermarket, I decided to do a little “window shopping!” I found 17 expired coupons at the first parking lot, and 14 at the next one. This was in only 2 ranks of parking, not the whole lot! I volunteer (or better a paid position!) to travel the parking lots of all major centres and issue citations for expired coupons. With the new registration plates it may require a different strategy, but I am perfectly willing to receive training on that aspect. It would raise serious revenues and free the police to deal with more egregious behaviours.

I think you will see a lot of “expired” coupons with the new registration system. I have an “expired” coupon on my car which I left on so that I can remember what date it needs to be renewed each year.

I up -voted your comment, but i think the RCIPS has made it clear that they are not interested in revenue from any other source than speeding tickets. They are wanting to raise the fine from $20 from every mph over the limit as if that is not high enough. They are not willing to do as you suggested and walk though parking lots because it involves more than standing up pointing a speed gun at multiple cars then deciding which one to pin it on. Walking through a parking lot give the officer no thrill and the pay out is not worth all the walking they will have to do.

With all the fines the RCIPS could be handing out, it is beyond me why they need to raise speeding fines. It obvious they do not catch the majority of speeders doing more than 10 mph above.

Also, as these items are illegal. Why in the world is Customs allowing auto accessory companies to continue to import and sell these covers? There is no other use for them. Yet, they will confiscate a personal massager or art depicting a Cannabis leaf.

CNS: I’ll follow up on this if you can point to the relevant part of the law that you think makes them illegal.

CNS, i am just going by what the RCIPS has said publicly. See below from a previous CNS article.

Traffic regulations state: “A person who –(a) uses reflex-reflecting material, retro-reflecting characters or any other treatment of the registration plate which renders the characters less easily distinguishable to the eye or which would impair the making of a true photographic image of the plate; or (b) uses screws, bolts or other fixing devices which have the effect of changing the appearance or legibility of any of the characters of the registration plate…”

To me it would seem counter productive to enforce said laws, but still allow these license plate covers to be legally imported when the only use for a license plate cover is to cover the license plate of a car. Would that not deal with the root of the problem?

CNS: Sorry, I didn’t follow the thread back. I thought you were referring to dash cams. My fault.

They all need to be ticketed and be given probation on their taxi licenses. I understand the more runs they make the more money they make but when someone is injured or killed because of their recklessness, I hope the money was worth it.

All you’ve seen is a few clips of some sort of public transport . As a taxi driver , I see a lot worse every day all day and it’s 99.9% private cars . Imagine the ratio of private vs public transport . Anyway we should all be more careful and stop being so aggressive .

What’s Happening in the Cayman Islands

The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing (DVDL) offices will be closed on Wednesday, 18 September, to facilitate a staff meeting, training and team building exercises. All DVDL offices will resume business as usual on Thursday, 19 September.

The National Conservation Council will hold a general meeting on Wednesday, 11 September, starting at 2pm at the Government Administration Building room 2112 (2nd floor). The agenda for the meeting is attached below.

On Monday, 9 September, Fort Street will be closed between Harbour Drive and the junction with Edward Street (Clock Tower) in order to facilitate the Laying in State of the late John McLean, MLA. The closure will take place from 7:45am to 8:30am and again from 3:15pm to 4:00pm.

The Customs and Border Control Service (CBC) would like to inform customers of UPS who may be experiencing delays with receiving their imported goods that the delays are not caused by CBC. They are the result of a private commercial issue between two local on-island agents that provide services for UPS.

The Protocol Office requests individuals, businesses and organisations, who wish to lower their flags to half-mast ahead of the funeral of the late John McLean, MLA, to do so at 9.05am on Monday, 9 September.

The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association reminds all members that the September Social will take place on Tuesday 17 September at 7:00pm in the Seafarer’s Hall, 11 Victory Ave, Prospect. It is expected that all will wear their CISA shirts.

WORC (Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman) would like to inform the public that the extended hours offered on Wednesdays at the Immigration Headquarters will end as of Monday, 30 September. Normal office hours from 8:30am to 4:00pm will resume thereafter.

The Mercuryman Triathlon takes place on Sunday, 8 September, starting at 6:45am at Eden Rock on South Church Street, George Town. The bike portion of the event will begin in front of Eden Rock and participants will travel to East End via South Sound Road, Shamrock Road, Bodden Town Road, Sea View Road and the […]

The Department of Planning in the Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure will host an information session on the planning application and permit process at the Family Life Centre on Thursday, September 5, 2019, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The aim of the session will be to provide information and guidance on the planning process […]

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